June 8 – Amazing Machu Picchu0

June 8 – Amazing Machu Picchu

We arose at 4:30 to have breakfast at 5 and catch the 6:00 bus to get there before the crowds and it worked really well. The bus ride is up a switch-back road for about 20 minutes that leaves you off outside the main entrance gate. We had our tickets already because they limit it to 2500 tourists a day. I had read in the guidebook about how to get to the viewpoint that you see in all of the pictures of Machu Picchu so we headed up that path and came out on a trail with Machu Picchu spread below us. It was a goosebump experience since I have seen pictures and heard about this for years and years. It on a lot of peoples’ bucket lists. The place is huge and obviously all of the Incas were in great shape because it is all stairs up and down to various levels. They did terraced gardening and used every square inch of space on the mountain. As you look out, the left side is all royalty dwellings, the right side is all the workers and the middle is the agriculture. The houses are missing their thatched roofs so you can see in very well that some were two story. The Incas made good use of land. Here are some pictures.